WHEELCHAIR racer Jerold Magliwan and swimmer Ernie Gawilan, veterans of the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, will have the honor of being the country’s flag-bearers during the opening and closing ritesof the 2020 World Para Games set to start on Aug. 24 in Tokyo Japan.
Philippine chief of mission Francis Diaz said the six athletes representing the country are wrapping up their “tactical and technical training” in separate training bubbles through the support of the Philippine Sports Commission.
Magliwan and Gawilan will spearhead the “lean and mean” six-man squad that includes swimmer Gary Bejino, taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin, discus thrower Jeanette Aceveda and power lifter Achele Guion, who are making their debut in the games also delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“All our athletes are positive. They have a great mindset coming into the Games. They have overcome the great challenges in having to train under the new normal during the pandemic,” Diaz stressed.
He said that given their positive outlook, all the athletes can bringhome medals and duplicate or even surpassthe bronze medal that table tennis player Josephine Medina won in the Rio Para Games in 2016.
It was second medal that Pinoy bets won in the quadrennial meet for para athletes after a similar bronze garnered by powerlifter Adeline Dumapong Ancheta in the 2000 edition in Sydney, Australia.
Diaz credited the PSC’s Sports Psychology unit for mentally and psychologically preparing the Para Games campaigners, whose allowances were boosted by the government sports agency to $3,000 (roughly P150,000) to meet their expenses in the Japanese capital.
“Chairman Ramirez and I see eye-to-eye that they are already champions for having qualified for the World Para Games. If they fail to reach the podium, they can be proud of their performance and hold their heads high,” Diaz said.
He said they will have a 21-man contingent of six athletes, six coaches and nine support personnel, including team physician and COVID -19 liaison officerDr. Janice Espina de Veraof the PSC’s medical unit.
He added the team members are already using the Japanese monitoring and tracing app that was also used for the Tokyo Summer Games.
They are scheduled to move in this week for three days of quarantine at the Conrad Hotel in Pasay City before leaving for Tokyo on Sunday.
“We will have our last swab tests at the hotel before the first batch of delegation leaves for Tokyo on Sunday,” Diaz said.
Diaz, also the dean of the UP Diliman College of Human Kinetics, said Aceveda and Magliwan have been training exclusively at the new Imus Sports Complex with athletic coaches Joel Deriada and Bernard Buen through the aid of Imus Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi while swimmers Gawilan and Bejino are training at the indoor pool of the Philippine Science High School in Quezon City.
Diaz said Ganapin trained for two weeks with the regular national taekwondo team at the Aspire Academy in Calamba, Laguna but is now quartered and training with Philippine Taekwondo Association national training director Dindo Simpao, who will coach the athlete in Tokyo.
Guion is training at a gym near her home in Cainta with her coach.
“The PSC under chairman Butch Ramirez has been very supportive of our paraathletes since the 2016 Rio Para Games, which is why despite the pandemic they were able to do actual face-to-face training,” Diaz said.
“Hindi nagkulang ang PSC sa pagsubaybay sa technical and tactical training nila,” he stressed. “These include the scouting reports of the potential rivals of our athletes in Tokyo.”
